Inclusion and diversity

Creating better results

Inclusion and diversity are key to our success. By fully leveraging our diverse experiences, backgrounds and insights, we can inspire innovation, challenge the status quo and create better outcomes for our people and our clients.

We embrace the diverse range of visible and invisible attributes that characterize our workforce, the markets in which we operate, our business partners and the investors we serve around the world. We foster an inclusive environment that brings out the best in all of our people. While we have made progress in the area of inclusion and diversity, we recognize that we still have work to do. We take an active approach to promote inclusion and diversity with our own employees, with our clients and business partners and beyond our walls.

Our active approachwith our people

BlackRock is committed to cultivating and advancing diversity in all forms because we believe a wide range of perspectives and talent is crucial to creating a richer culture for our employees and a greater experience for our diversified global client base.

Senior business leaders make sure that all employees in their groups understand why diversity is important for success and equip them with tools and knowledge to foster inclusion.

We have made inclusive leadership and management a core leadership competency. In 2015, more than 2,500 managers and leaders globally participated in Driving Better Decisions, an initiative that helps leaders and managers understand how unconscious bias works and, most importantly, provides concrete tools and guidance on how to take action to mitigate bias in key people and business decisions. As part of this program, we have redesigned key human resources processes to minimize the potential for bias and foster diversity. BlackRock’s efforts to use diversity as a driver of success were profiled in a2015 Harvard Business School case study.

We hold our businesses accountable for progress in inclusion and diversity. During our Quarterly Business Reviews, we have focused conversations with each business about their plans and progress. We report our progress against our inclusion and diversity initiatives regularly to our Board of Directors.

As a signatory of HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter, which seeks to build a more balanced and diverse financial services industry, BlackRock is committed to achieving 30% female representation in senior management by 2020.

Our programs

Launched in 2011, BlackRock’s Women’s Leadership Forum is a specialized year-long program for high-performing women at senior levels of the firm. It provides participants with the insight, sponsorship and a global network to expand their leadership impact and scope. Since its inception, more than 80% of participants have moved into new or significantly expanded roles in the firm. Several have been named to key governance bodies for BlackRock, including the Global Executive Committee and business and regional executive committees.

The BlackRock Founders Scholarship

The BlackRock Founders Scholarship is for Black, Hispanic, Native American, LGBT and disabled college juniors in the United States who excel in their studies and demonstrate leadership in creating and sustaining diverse, inclusive communities. Through the BlackRock Founders Scholarship, BlackRock gives student leaders from underrepresented groups the opportunity to shape our firm and our industry, through a $12,500 merit award and a position in our summer internship program. This program has helped to increase the diversity of our Analyst new hires.

Find Your Future Forum

Our educational program for freshman and sophomores aims at increasing awareness of an interest in financial services careers among diverse student groups from all academic disciplines. In 2015, more than 120 students participated in forums across the United States.

The Multicultural Talent Development Initiative

BlackRock's 12-month individual development program is designed to support and develop our high performing multicultural talent through a combination of feedback, assessment, career development and sponsorship.

Our networks

The Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) brings together leadership, innovation and passion to foster the full potential of women at BlackRock.

BlackRock’s OUT Network supports the success of BlackRock by fostering an inclusive community for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender employees, building positive, respectful, professional relationships, and enriching workplace diversity.

The MultiCultural Network attracts, engages and develops a culturally and ethnically inclusive workforce that strengthens BlackRock's position in a global economy through diversity awareness and education.

The BlackRock Veterans Network contributes to the success of the firm by engaging, sponsoring and supporting activities and programs which honor and assist veterans and their families.

BlackRock’s Families at BlackRock Network provides educational and networking opportunities for employees to share experiences around managing their work and family lives.

Our active approach with clients and business partners

Our annual Global Investor Pulse surveys 31,000 investors globally, with an equal gender split across all regions. Results provide actionable insights on how investors are investing and how to best educate and support them so they can build strong financial futures.

BlackRock has a dedicated “Emerging Broker” program aimed at increasing connectivity and engagement with minority, women, and disabled-veteran owned firms while helping them grow their businesses. The program looks to 1) Identify new brokers and strengthen current relationships by aligning Emerging Brokers’ core competencies with our trading businesses; and 2) Continue to look for ways in which Emerging Brokers can engage in competitive business and introduce new means for them to become more competitive in the broader market place.

Our active approach beyond our walls

BlackRock is focused on supporting inclusion and diversity both inside and outside the firm. BlackRock has strategic partnerships with several organizations to help us attract and develop top talent from diverse backgrounds, and to support inclusion and diversity beyond the workplace.

Some examples of our involvement include:

Larry Fink, our CEO is a founding member of the 30% Club in the U.S., a group that aims to achieve gender balance on boards and throughout organizations. Michelle Edkins, Global Head of Investment Stewardship for BlackRock, serves on the U.S. Steering Committee and Chairs the 30% Club Investor Relations Group. BlackRock also plays an active role in 30% Club groups in Australia, the UK and Hong Kong.

BlackRock is a member of the Bias Interrupters Working Group at the UC Hastings College of Law. The working group brings leading researchers together with a select group of corporate partners to develop innovative models for addressing work-place bias by integrating bias-correcting mechanisms into basic business systems.

BlackRock supported the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders’ Defense of Marriage Act amicus brief, and was honored by Open Finance for the leadership that BlackRock demonstrated in signing the amicus brief.

The International Consortium for Executive Development Research (ICEDR), an alliance of 40 leading global corporations and 25 academic institutions that focus on leadership development, featured BlackRock’s programs for women in its 2015 research study, What Executives Need to Know About Millennial Women.